A Lesson In Empathy
}}="hiddenStructure" | colspan="2" style="text-align: center;" | |- class }="hiddenStructure" style="padding-right: 1.2em; vertical-align: top;" ! style="width: 10em;" | Heroes | Beast Boy Iron Man |- class }="hiddenStructure" style="padding-right: 1.2em; vertical-align: top;" ! style="width: 10em;" | Villains | Iphicles Loki Raven Titanium Man |- class }="hiddenStructure" style="padding-right: 1.2em; vertical-align: top;" ! style="width: 10em;" | First Appearances | Beast Boy Iron Man Titanium Man |- class }="hiddenStructure" style="padding-right: 1.2em; vertical-align: top;" ! style="width: 10em;" | Summary | Iron Man attempts to teach Raven about the pain of losing loved ones, which indirectly leads to Raven finding a new ally in Beast Boy. |} '''A Lesson In Empathy '''is a story arc from the Carbonadium series. Story Loki has agreed to let Raven take Iphicles to Earth to continue his training. While there, Raven kills a passerby in the park for her son's amusement. This sparks an alert for Iron Man, who confronts them over the incident. Raven and Iron Man engage in a brief battle, which sees Iron Man render her unconscious. As she wakes, she finds herself trapped in a cell, with Iphicles nowhere in sight. Through words, Anthony (the man who was under the iron suit earlier) casually attempts to make Raven experience the pain of loss by telling her he killed her son in battle. This infuriates Raven, at which point Anthony reveals it was actually Loki who came and retrieved the child. In a rage, Raven returns home to Asgard to find Loki training Iphicles how to use his staff. She confronts him, and he explains that he knew she'd be able to handle himself. He then proceeds to give her two new powers he developed for her, based on his own -- a spiritual projection technique, as well as Amora's Kiss. At Loki's urging, Raven returns to Earth to take a day for herself. She comes to grip with the fact that humanity is frightened of her, and flees from her upon sight. A young man sticks around, offering to be her friend, which she is reluctant to accept. But when Iron Man returns and the young shapeshifter helps her escape, she agrees to be friends with him. The young man, having been revealed as Beast Boy, takes her back to his home in the woods to wait for the heat to blow over. While there, Titanium Man ambushes them. This time, Raven returns the favour by saving Beast Boy's life. With his home destroyed, Beast Boy asks Raven if he can come with her to her house, and she zaps them both back to Asgard. Loki is infuriated upon catching wind of this, and demands that the "creature" be destroyed for setting foot on sacred land. Raven refuses, sending Beast Boy back to Earth -- Loki does the unthinkable, chaining Raven down and preparing to kill her for her treachery. However, Beast Boy jumps over Raven's head in tiger form and attacks Loki, then returns to free her. Still unsure how Beast Boy returned, Raven notices that Loki is setting up an army of droids to destroy them, but also that her son Iphicles is missing. Beast Boy notes that if they don't leave quickly, they will be destroyed, and Raven reluctantly takes them both back to Earth to escape the onslaught. Category:Story Arcs Category:Stories From The Carbonadium Series Category:Stories From The Third Age Category:Stories Involving Raven Category:Stories Involving Iphicles Category:Stories Involving Loki Category:Stories Involving Beast Boy Category:Stories Involving Iron Man Category:Stories Involving Titanium Man